


the night is an ocean

by sagescript



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Stardew Valley, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:49:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28188732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagescript/pseuds/sagescript
Summary: Zuko is twenty years old, working a job at his father's company, when his uncle sends him a letter inviting him to live with him on his farm in Shu Jing valley for the summer. Zuko goes, expecting to not only help his uncle with his work on the farm, but to make his father proud by helping further his company's work in the valley. What Zuko does not expect is to meet a boy who changes everything he thought he knew.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	the night is an ocean

_My dearest nephew,_

_It has been several years since I saw you last. You were so young then, so bright and determined, fresh out of childhood and ready to conquer the world as an adult. From what little I’ve heard from you since then, I’d imagine you’ve been doing quite well under your father’s tutelage at Sozin Corp. I remember that, as a teenager, you often had doubts about your ability to follow in your father’s footsteps. I, myself, never doubted that you could achieve anything you put your mind to. You, nephew, are one of a kind. However, I have never been so sure of what my future holds for me, and as I grew older, I found that my ambitions led me away from what our family had planned for me._

_You may have heard from your father, or not, that about a year ago I bought a piece of land in the place, incidentally, your mother grew up in: the town of Hira’a, in Shu Jing Valley. It’s a small town on the southern coast, not too far east of the city. After your parents married, your mother became a dear friend of mine, and she often regaled me with tales of her hometown. Needless to say, it enchanted me. It is the change I needed. The air is fresh, and the people are kind. The food is divine, and the tea is like nothing I’ve tasted in the city. But most importantly, the people here know nothing of my past, and I have been given a second chance at life, even if it is a bit late._

_I’m writing to you, Zuko, in hope that you do not wait as long as I did to discover your own destiny. I want to remind you that you can choose not to live in your father’s shadow for the rest of your life. You can choose peace, and nature, and love._

_Alas, the true purpose of this letter is to invite you to live with me on my farm in the valley, so that we may find that peace together, as family. I will admit, it can get quite lonely here, and I think we would do well with each other’s company. And, I suppose, I miss my nephew dreadfully._

_I understand that the idea of moving away from everything you know is daunting, and your immediate reaction will likely be to decline my invitation. If the beauty and tranquility of nature do not entice you, than perhaps the dire situation of your dear uncle will. I have, despite my best intentions, injured myself during my work, and I am unable to continue taking care of the farm by myself, even through my best efforts. It would bring me great joy for you to travel down here and join me in my duties until I have recovered._

_Please do consider it._

_Love, Uncle Iroh_

“That’s the whole letter?”

“Yeah, that’s the whole thing.” Zuko sighed, leaning back in his chair. He couldn’t stop himself for looking at the edges of the paper, smeared with dirt from his Uncle’s fingers. His own traced the smudges of his fingerprints. 

Mai was staring at him silently, her face carefully and purposefully blank, as always. Zuko met her gaze, cringing.

“What?” he groaned. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” 

“What is it?”

Mai leaned back in her seat, her eyes roving over his face. “I just what to know what you’re going to do. Are you actually going to go?”

Zuko’s body sagged in his chair, and he ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, honestly,” he confessed. “I mean, I can’t, right? Father… he would be _angry_. And I have work to do here.”

Mai snorted. “You can do whatever you want, Zuko. You’re an adult now, remember? Your father doesn’t control you.”

Zuko disagreed with that, but he kept his mouth shut in front of Mai. 

“And plus,” she continued, “your uncle did say you could just stay there until he’s recovered. You’re due for a vacation anyway. CEO’s son or not, your father can’t deny you a vacation.”

But he _could_. His father _could_ deny Zuko a vacation. Because Zuko was a coward. Because Zuko couldn’t bear to disappoint his father any more than he already had. Because Zuko couldn’t afford another failure.

And what right did Zuko have to take a vacation, of all things? He hadn’t done anything deserving of one. He hadn’t even earned his father’s respect, his gratitude, his pride. 

“You’ve been down there once, right?” Mai said. “With your mother, when you were young. Azula mentioned it once, I think.”

Zuko nodded. “Yeah, once. Father was on a business trip, so it was just us in the house. Mom took us once. I don’t remember it well, though. I was really young.”

“What do you remember?” Mai asked, her voice uncharacteristically soft. 

Zuko swallowed thickly. “Um, well, we didn’t really visit much of Hira'a, and I don’t remember much of the rest. They’re so small, they don’t even have a motel or a place to stay for the night. But there’s this hut, on the beach, that my mom stayed in after she graduated high school and moved out of her parents house. She used to stay there and listen to the ocean as she wrote.”

“It sounds nice.”

“It wasn’t. I mean, it was gross and tiny and Azula complained the whole time. But basically, my mom never sold it. After she married Father, she could afford it, so, I guess she figured, like, why sell it? So that’s where we stayed when we visited. We didn’t really see anyone else very often, and we didn't stay long.”

The hut had been secluded, tucked away behind a shelf of salt-slicked rocks. Zuko faintly remembered the smell of the sea, and the feel of the sand beneath his feet, the way it stuck so firmly to his skin. He remembered Azula dangling a crab above the water, grinning as she looked upon it with gleeful fascination. Her expression was void of the cruelty he’d become so familiar with. He remembered a boy, briefly, and a mother, both dressed in blue, standing at the edge of the pier. The woman carded her fingers through the boy’s hair with the kind of tenderness only a mother could possess. Even from a distance, Zuko could see the light, loving smile on the woman’s face, an expression he’d seen in rare occasions on his mother’s. An expression he’d been missing for almost a decade, now.

But most of all, of all the things in Shu Jing, what Zuko remembered most was the sky. The sky and all its stars.

Oh, the stars! They were so, so impossibly bright against the night sky, which was such an impossibly dark blue, so dark it was almost black. 

And the sea, the ocean, just as dark, reflected the sky like a mirror. Zuko remembered the lights blinking above his head in the sky, and below his feet in the water, and for a moment, he’d imagined he was wading through the stars, and everything around him was dark, and warm, and he was safe.

“I would like to go back someday, I think,” Zuko said softly, his eyes dazed.

Mai leaned forward, reaching across the table to grasp his hand in hers. “Zuko, you need a break. You’ve been working tirelessly for the past two years. You’re twenty years old and you’ve barely lived.”

“I can’t abandon my duties.” Zuko hated how weak he sounded, how his voice trembled as Mai’s thumb brushed over the back of his hand. He was reminded of how grateful he was to have Mai; he thought it had been over for their friendship when they broke up nearly a year ago, and yet they had only grown closer as friends.

“Your duty is with your uncle, Zuko. He needs you,” Mai said quietly. “As for your duties here… I can take care of them as long as you need.”

Zuko gripped her hand tightly. “You think… Uncle needs me?”

“Yeah. He needs you, Zuko. He loves you.”

Zuko sighed, extracting his hand from hers and rubbing his face. “God, Mai. I don’t know what to do.”

“What do you want to do, Zuko? That’s all that matters.”

~

The memories often came for Zuko in the middle of the night. He’d wake with shuttered breaths and sweat gathering at his brow, hands trembling and lungs quaking. Sometimes his face would burn and his eyes would burn and everything would burn. Sometimes he’d wake with an ache in his gut and a longing for something he’d once felt, but no more.

It was one of those nights where he ached, and ached, and ached, and he was suddenly reminded of the boy and the woman in blue, so blue against the bluest sky and the whitest clouds. Everything seemed so clean, so clear in Shu Jing Valley, in Hira’a. It had been the only place in Zuko’s youth where he had not felt the dreadful weight of his father’s gaze heavy on his back, searing into his skin with a terrifying fire.

Everything in the city felt like Father. The sky was wide and bleak, and the rain was sharp and cutting. Black, sick smoke billowed from the buildings, and the stench permeated the city air. It felt heavy in Zuko’s stomach, painful against his lungs and brutal against his eyes. 

The bedsheets were cold and uncomfortable, twisted around Zuko’s hips and legs, the fabric rubbing against his skin in a way that made him prickle with nausea. Why did it feel like that? Why did everything that touched him in this city feel like the shocking hum of electricity, burning in trails across his skin?

The city was cold and grey. The countryside was blue and warm. The clouds looked like cotton candy and the air tasted like nectar in the spring. The rain was soft and light against skin and the wind brushed past pink cheeks and dark, tousled hair. The boy in blue smiled at his mother, and the sun smiled back.

Zuko needed someone to smile at. Zuko needed someone to smile back. Zuko needed someone who loved him the way his mother had once loved him, someone who loved him in the same way the boy in blue smiled. Someone who made the sun explode.

Zuko needed to leave.

He pulled himself out of bed, tearing the sheets from his stiff, aching body. He shuffled to his desk sitting against the wall of his studio, ignoring the way the rain pounded against the windows and the way the sound pounded against his head. 

He sat down, and pressed the tip of a pen against paper.

~

There were many different words people used to describe Zuko’s father. Handsome, ambitious, cunning. Twisted, careless, disgusting. An upright businessman who lost his wife a decade ago, and had since devoted himself to spreading his vision across the country, across the world. A sick, terrible man who hurt those around him and reveled in the destruction of nature, which his late wife had loved so deeply.

People often asked Zuko what his father was really like. Zuko tried to answer in a way that led them to believe he was his father’s loyal son, his confidante and his successor. It was what Zuko told himself everyday, after all. 

You are good enough. He loves you.

And yet, despite his father’s colleagues’ prideful pats on the back and murmurings of praise, Zuko could not stop the trickling of doubt that wormed its way into his heart.

Was this really what he wanted for himself? To follow in his father’s footsteps?

Maybe not, but despite everything, he yearned for his father’s love. He yearned for those tender gazes and eyes full of pride. If this was what it took, then, well, what else was Zuko supposed to do? And so far, Zuko’s entire life had been devoted to pleasing his father, to being even the least bit satisfactory as a son, as an heir. 

However, it seemed even a lifetime of servitude and obedience would not spare Zuko from his father’s wrath.

“You’re doing _what_?” his father exclaimed. Zuko could practically _see_ the smoke steaming from his father’s flaring nostrils. 

Zuko tried and failed to keep his stammering heartbeat under control. His fists tightened and loosed around the loose fabric of his slacks. “I said—”

“I heard what you said,” his father snarled. “I was giving you the chance to _rethink your decisions_. You’re leaving the company to go live with your _uncle_ , of all people.” 

His father scoffed, his face twisted in scorn, and worse, disappointment.

“I'm not leaving permanently, Father,” Zuko forced himself to say. “Uncle was injured, I’m just helping out for the summer.”

His father’s glare did not lighten. He was waiting for Zuko to say something else—an excuse for his father to lash out at him.

“I mean, it’s not permanent, of course. And I think it would really do the company some good.” Zuko took a deep breath, realizing he was tripping over his words. His father’s eyes were narrowed and calculating.

“Work has been slow lately. There’s not much here for me to do that any entry level position employee could do. And besides, you’ve been wanting to get an inside look at Shu Jing lately for the project we have going on there. I… I could be that for you, probably. I could help.”

His father was considering it. He could tell as the tension dropped from his father’s mouth and eyes and moved to his brow.

Zuko’s plan was a good idea, and he knew it. Sozin Corporation had dozens of projects all over the country, and they all varied in size, purpose, and progress. Most of the projects ran without a hitch, but there were some places, especially in the countryside, where the company’s projects were faced with heavy opposition from the local population. Shu Jing Valley was one of those places that had managed to prevent Sozin Corp. from making much progress.

“I’ll be doing more good for you _and_ Uncle over there than I would be doing over here for either of you, Father.”

His father sighed, the tension releasing from his body. “Very well,” he said. “When are you planning on leaving?

Zuko could feel himself relax, but the points of tension that left his feet rooted painfully to the floor remained. “As soon as I can get everything arranged. Ideally by the end of the week. Uncle always makes things seem better than they are.”

His father was still angry, but Zuko could tell he’d managed to reason himself out of any imminent trouble. 

“Mai said she could take over my duties until I return.”

“Okay.”

His father was eerily silent, and Zuko could visualize the cogs turning in that brilliant, cunning mind.  
“I expect you to stay in contact. Give me updates, everything you can learn about Shu Jing. Especially about the people of _Hira’a_.” He practically spat the name of the town out of his mouth, the corner of his lips twisting in ill-disguised contempt. 

Zuko nodded. “Of course, Father.”

“You may leave now.”

Zuko turned and walked out of his father’s office on shaking legs. When he closed the door behind him, his back thudding against the wall of the empty hallway, he almost laughed, a huff of air escaping his lips. His hands grasped at the dull, grey walls of the building that had basically been his home for the past two years and found a smile fighting at his lips.

For the entire summer, he would be free from this unsteady feeling. For the entire summer, he might actually be doing something that would make his family _proud_.

For all the confusion, for all the conflicting emotions that clouded Zuko’s mind, he finally felt something he hadn’t felt since he had been a young child standing in the ocean, and staring down the sun.

Zuko felt hope.

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is pretty short, but expect significantly longer and better quality chapters as the plot gets moving and as I get back into the rhythm of writing. This fic is based off Stardew Valley but expect a lot to be very different. It's also important to note that I changed the names of most of the places in Stardew Valley to make it more of an "Avatar" story. Some of them I'll just refer to as "the city" or "the saloon" but I'll include a key for those who might be confused! I'll probably add a key to each chapter for any new places and some characters. Any questions are welcome!
> 
> Stardew Valley = Shu Jing Valley  
> Pelican Town = Hira'a  
> Joja Corp = Sozin Corp  
> Zuzu City = Capital City


End file.
